Brands that don't understand online behavior engage with consumers at the worst times. Here's when customers are ready to shop and how to best connect with them.

Brands live and die by their ability to understand and target consumer behaviors. When digital marketing strategies align with consumer online shopping behaviors, it's a major accomplishment for brands eager to capture their share of the digital marketplace.

The catch is that marketers often base digital spend on assumptions and perceived consumer behavior rather than the actual ways consumers interact with brands online. As a result, investments designed to improve consumer engagement -- email promotions, social media interactions, mobile spend -- frequently miss the mark, compromising the brand's ability to connect with the right consumers at the right times.

The misalignment of brands and consumers is even more relevant during the holiday shopping season. For instance, a recent study showed that half of consumers are influenced by social media when making online purchases, but only 8 percent of Facebook campaigns and 4 percent of Twitter campaigns focus on money-saving promotions. Unless big brands effectively calibrate their marketing strategies to align with actual consumer behaviors, it's unlikely that they will be able to achieve holiday sales targets -- not to mention sales goals for the rest of the year.

Article hits the nail on the head in regards to understanding consumer behaviour before initiating consumer engagement. There are four great tips listed in here too. They revolve around starting early, segmenting your audience, leveraging mobile, and to consider timing. Marketing communications define involvement as the individual, internal state of arousal. Article also mentions that the important holiday period retail season is the most consumer-engaging time of the year, with numbers escalating. Author higlights importance of mobile channel in regards to social media and apps, a trend that is still a bubble.

Hey Martin this is a good article you have chosen. Understanding consumer behavior before engaging with consumers is very important. If you understand how your target consumers behave then it will be easier to identify the best possible way of engaging them. Also by understanding your consumer you gain knowledge into what they like and what engages them. Therefore you can tailor a strategy best suited for that consumer.

This article reinforces the importance of improving consumer engagement for a brand. The survival of a brand is based on understanding and targeting consumer behaviour, which are vital to comprehend in order to maximize your brand's potential. For instance, online brands need to align their digital marketing strategies with consumer online shopping behaviours in order to capture a share of the digital market place. In order to do so, marketers need to understand the 'actual' ways consumers interact rather than make assumptions or perceptions of consumer behaviour. From this article I have extracted 4 concepts that a company could perform in order to improve their ability to engage with consumers via online channels of marketing: 1) Start Early, in relation to emailing promotions and including free shipping options, discounts and exclusive offers which will drive purchase decisions. 2) Segment Audience, by targeting shoppers with frequent and urgent messages that have deadlines for offers in order to avoid message fatigue. 3) Consider Timing, relates to the release of the promotional material at specific times of the day when consumers are most likely to be online. By understanding these consumer buying patterns, marketers are able to establish a system that will release promotional materials at peek hours. 4) Leverage Mobile, will take advantage of the constant use of the mobile phone by enabling consumers to view messaging and interact with the brand via online platforms accessed via their mobile. High levels of consumer engagement are vital for the survival of a brand and once achieved, allows for comprehensive and consistent marketing strategies to be implicated. In conclusion, by aligning digital channel promotions with the real-world consumers behaviours, in the long term result in increased return of investment and establish strategies that deliver results.

Good article and very clear points. It mentioned that social media is now a very important tool to develop consumer engagement. I agree with this opinion, most people now choose online shopping rather than go to the physical stores. This is actually a marketing change from physical to online model. If companies want to improve consumer engagement they should pay more attention to social media area and online sale model. This is the future marketing key element. The author talk about 4 steps to improve consumer engagement, these steps can truly help marketers to develop the market well via social media tools and therefore gain the consumers

This is a good article in demonstrating how people need to act on ideas when they think of them. The author talks about missed opportunities but also has some good outcomes of capitalizing on those good ideas. The one that stands out is writing to the President of another country in regards to a diplomatic relationship because there was no embassy. To his suprise, the President finally received the letter and the President met with government officials from the other country to arrange talks. A powerful creative idea can change a lot if you grab people's attention by engaging them.

The article you chose is provides good ideas of what to do when you come up with a great idea. I believe ideas are very powerful and they can make or break a person. In saying this ideas are what have shaped the world around us. The article you have chosen suggests that whenever you get a great idea you should share it, in this certain situation, through email. The article also gives examples of certain peoples experiences when sharing their ideas through email and the idea of sharing these experiences will motivate others to do the same. I also like the last statement you made about how a powerful idea can change a lot if you engage people's attention. I believe engaging people with your ideas is what will make someone successful.

Very interesting article here with a great example off how acting on a great idea and a bit off faith led into a significant step that could possibly influence many peoples lives and in turn also have the potential to also improve/strengthen relationships between both these parties. We hear on numerous occasions during life weather it be professional or personal always share your good ideas as you never know the amount of impact it could have not only on other lives but also on yours. Great article to encourage people to take that extra step!!

Your marketing mix can put you in contact with a variety of customers if you create it with diversity in mind. You create your marketing mix from a combination of advertising, sales promotion, public ...

Developing an effective marketing communications mix requires creativity. A creative strategy will determine the message you want to say or communicate. Creative tactics will determine how the message strategy is executed. This is a great article outlining the different stages for an effective mix. The article highlights the target customer, communication channels, cost estimates, and measuring as staple areas to concentrate on. Theory behind their explanation is solid.

This article gives and describe the four key points steps in how to achieve effective communication mix. The key points are explain clearly and easy to understand. You don't need to use all the four points however just to keep in them in mind so you will know the methods of effective communication marketing.\

This article gives and describe the four key points steps in how to achieve effective communication mix. The key points are explain clearly and easy to understand. You don't need to use all the four points however just to keep in them in mind so you will know the methods of effective communication marketing.

Great points in this article regarding the modern marketing mix. The author refers to the growth of digital marketing, social media, emails, and search marketing in recent times. So, is there still room for direct marketing around? Literature suggests it is still valuable if used correctly, generating significant returns on investment. Indeed this is true but it needs to be more creative and carried out as economically as possible, something that applies to everything. Advantages include selective reach, timing, and measure of effectiveness. Cons include rising costs and image factors. Aswell as "Do Not Contact" lists.

Great article Danielle, like you say bombarding people with flyers in their letter boxes won't create a response from consumers but setting in place a strategic marketing strategy to work out how they can effectively target their customers, will have much more of a positive response. A marketing strategy is essential in using direct marketing as a communication tool because without it the effectiveness of the campaign is lost.

As today, more and more companies start to realize the importance of the direct marketing. Direct mail, as one of the most important tools for direct marketing, still plays a big role communicating with the customers. The research showed that 83 percent of direct mail is opened in comparison to average email open rates of 11 percent in UK and 44 percent of consumers have visited store, purchased or enquired the product after received the direct mails from the company. The research tells us even nowadays more and more companies chose using direct email instead of direct mail, sending mail is still an important tool to reach certain consumers.

Direct mail marketing is seen as a dieing source. Within todays modern technological society, social media, email, internet etc. is seen to be such a better and more advance way to market a company or product that it has left many wondering if there is a future for mail marketing. Response is carefully measured in an attempt to take the waste out of marketing and should be part of your long-term strategy. Activity through virtually any media can be classed as direct marketing.

Today I received a great question – What are the keys to writing a great social media marketing plan? Of course, this question can be answered in countless ways. I thought I’d mix it up by providing my opinion on this topic.

MARTIN LEE's insight:

Social Media marketing plans are important because of the degree of people you reach. Of course though, the communications need to be centered on a theme or idea to hold any relevance. Internet is a large portion of media advertising and advantages include having an interactive relationship, having a flexible platform, and high user attention and detail. Obviously, getting the marketing plan right the first time is paramount. What should people consider though? The article suggests the three starting points should be setting goals, measuring results, and tracking performance. The article has an important statement, "a good marketing plan has a beginning and an end!". This creates vision, more importantly, it gives a reference point to review how you are tracking. Control is highly important when attempting to achieve goals. Social Media marketing plans are important because of the degree of people you reach. Of course though, the communications need to be centered on a theme or idea to hold any relevance.

Social media is the new channel of promotion for marketers. I agree with your statement saying that social media marketing plans are important due to the amount of people being reached. A social media plan must be well thought out and be relevant to the target market you want. As social media has many different types of people, and is easily accessible by anyone, it is important that the message you are trying to send out is appropriate in the event the a consumer outside of your target market is reached. This may cause bad reputation if not done correctly.

Awesome article here Martin as I definitely do believe like so many other people out there that social media is currently and will be the future off all marketing irrespective to the size off the business, with reach playing an important factor. One off the main benefits I see with social media marketing is that company have the opportunity to reach customers all the way too their home and don’t require to make physical contact with users to make them aware off products and services. This article not only reinforces this fact but also provides numerous suggestions on how to achieve this.

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